Registration Updates

New legislation introduced on Thursday 26 March 2020 allows Deaths and Still Births to be registered remotely without the need for face to face interviews.

Death Registrations

It is now the responsibility of the GP or hospital Doctor (if the death occurred in hospital) to email Form 11 Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) to the Registrar in the local area as identified by the informant.

To assist the registration process, contact details of the informant eg a family member or if not available, the Funeral Director, could be included with the medical certificate. If there are no contact details included then it is the responsibility of the informant to contact the registration office to start the process of registration. In addition, the GP or hospital doctor should post the original MCCD to the registration office.

Once the emailed MCCD is received by the registration team, the process of registration can begin. It may take more than one phone call with the informant to finalise the registration details. Please note that our telephone calls will show (0845) number therefore don't block or ignore it.

Please only send MCCDs to your local office, normally where the deceased stayed, as contacting several offices will only delay the process. You can however register a death which occurred in Scotland at any registration district in Scotland.

It is now the responsibility of the midwife or hospital doctor to email Form 6 Certificate of Stillbirth to the Registrar in the local area as identified by the informant.

To assist the registration process, please include the contact details of the informant eg family member or if not available, the Funeral Director with the Certificate of Stillbirth. If no contact details are included it would then be the responsibility of the informant to contact the registration office to start the process of registration. In addition the midwife or hospital doctor should post the original Certificate of Stillbirth to the registration office.

Once the emailed Form 6 is received by the registration team, the process of registration can begin. It may take more than one phone call with the informant to finalise the registration details. Please note that our telephone calls will show (0845) number therefore don't block or ignore it.

Please send certificates to your local office, normally where the family stayed, as contacting several offices will only delay the process. You can however register a stillbirth which occurred in Scotland at any registration office in Scotland.

Please discuss any issues with emailing Certificates of Stillbirth with your chosen funeral director or call your local registration office.

Birth Registrations

Birth registrations have been postponed until further notice. The 21-day registration period has been extended so please don't worry about this. Please don't post or email the birth registration card to the registrar. It is very important that you keep this in your possession. This will be required when the baby's birth is finally registered. Check this website regularly for further updates.

Civil/Religious/Belief Marriage and Civil Partnership Ceremonies

Following recent government announcements, no ceremonies will take place until further notice. National Records of Scotland will take advice and confirm when restrictions have been lifted. Marriage and Civil Partnership schedules will not be issued until we receive further instruction from National Records of Scotland.

Where you have already submitted notice and you have postponed your ceremony due to the current health crisis and wish to re-arrange a new date, please note that new marriage notice forms will not need to be submitted for a date fixed up to 31 December 2020 and no additional notice fees will be payable. Where you have already lodged notice but cannot re-arrange by 31 December 2020, new notice forms will require to be submitted but there will be no additional charge to lodge these new notice forms. Fees will be transferred to the new date and refunds arranged if you decide to cancel.

Requesting Replacement Certificates

Requests for historical certificates can be made by calling or emailing our offices with payments being made by debit/credit card. Certificates will then be posted with the receipt.